Greece’s summer tourist season is in full-effect, which means her beautiful beaches have been packed and (apparently) polluted… until a few celebrities offered their assistance.
Award-winning actor Will Smith and his family paused their vacation when 17-year-old daughter Willow insisted on cleaning beaches on the island of Antipaxos.
The Smiths are on a yacht touring the Ionian Sea, having visited Corfu and neighboring islands.
The teenage star shared her thoughts about the cleanup in an Instagram post:
“Being so far away from what I perceive as a polluted metropolis, I couldn’t stand seeing these beautiful beaches in Greece littered with trash. I saw seagulls, dead on their backs from choking on tiny slivers of plastic and other non-biodegradable materials; They even die from eating fish who have ingested these particle-size slivers. 4 beautiful humans accompanied my mom and I in gathering 22 trash bags full of plastics and urban debris off of 3 small beaches in Antípaxos, Greece.”
“When we see these things on our TV’s or phones it seems far away for some reason; But when it’s right in front of you I feel as though it is humanities responsibility to do as much as we can (in the moment and long-term) no matter how small the action is. As we all start to do our part, we gradually make a difference. Hopefully today we were able to elongate and preserve the beauty & existence of the local sea life,” Smith said.
The young singer, actress and dancer’s Instagram feed has been replete with photos of her family’s Ionian odyssey over the past few days (See below).